Direct Booking Myths Busted: Worst Advises a Hotelier Receives
“Do this, Do that.”
Hoteliers receive advice from people all the time, some are trustworthy and worth delving into, some, well not so much. This advice is always centered around the abstract topic of ‘making it to the top’. But only the people in charge of our fellow hoteliers know the difficulties of revenue management and hacking their growth. Basically, all the advice that they receive consists of how to grow their bookings and earn money.
They receive a lot of advice regarding this matter and sometimes fall prey to unwanted counsellings and in a way dig their own grave. Guidance should be absorbed and assimilated, not followed upon blindly. Every idea should be executed after proper research.
Increasing the number of direct bookings is something that does not happen overnight, there are many phases that have to be overcome. But there sure are some ways by virtue of which a hotelier can work on improving his/her direct booking numbers. Before we get into those, here’s a quick poll for you.
Old School Marketing
Do this and you may see some growth in your direct bookings. Well, in this age of technologically advanced human beings, who has the time to lift their heads and read a hoarding? Wherever you look, you will see people glued to their mobiles and other gadgets, hooked to the internet, waiting to be influenced by the next fancy thing. And you as a hotelier still feel that this old method of renting out billboards across the city will work. Well, you’re not completely right.
Nowadays, an online presence is the key. The more you are digitally present the more people will see you, and the more they see you, the higher your chance of converting them into your clients. Hence, the amount of online presence of a brand is directly proportional to the bookings it will achieve.
The internet gives you the segway to success, why not take it?
Hidden Cost
So you want your customers to book directly through your website. Great! You build a website and do all the required things, but then someone tells you that the booking engine which you will be integrating is going to burn a hole in your pocket.
Booking Engine doesn’t cost a fortune. Let’s do a comparison. Being listed on any travel agency’s website means losing out on around 30% of the pay in commission. On the contrary, having your own website with an integrated Booking Engine means getting the job for far less. Don’t be gripped by the fear of losing money when you integrate a booking engine, instead integrate one and go all-in with social media marketing and growth hack.
Hampering Personalization and Reach Possibilities
You must have come across people who might have told you that collaborating with an online medium for booking hotels will give you the reach and a chance to personalize with your customers. But did you forget the heavy commissions you have to pay these mediums in return for the reach that they will provide? They follow the policy of digging into your fortune by showing dreams but dreams that don’t get realized at all.
The reach that you need to boost online booking is actually provided to you through social media marketing. Upgrade your SMM, SEO and inbound marketing and see your growth and reach that you have always dreamt of. Backlinks and Google site rank are things that you need for achieving the required reach.
Direct Bookings from your hotel’s website will give you a chance to know your customers better. It helps you to connect with them on a personal level and even preempt the services that they may require. Reach and personalization which leads to proper customer service are two vital cogs of the entire hotel industry and should definitely be tapped into if you want to become a successful hotelier.
Philosophical Pricing
Book one night at our exclusive hotel for Rs.999.
You might have been following these trends to create a psychological effect on your customers. But in reality, these things actually don’t work anymore because people are now concerned with discounts and these fancy pricing systems are not attractive to them anymore. These used to work earlier but now your customer only wants to see the rate of discount and the quality of services provided. Pricing is an important criterion for booking hotels so the more flexible and pocket-friendly it is, the more the bookings.
So, get over the habit of having prices ending with 9 and start using percentages(%) to showcase your prices and catch people’s eyes.
Bookingjini believes in empowering its fellow hoteliers with tools that would help them make the most out of their Hotels and realize the dreams that they set out within the beginning. Move over to our website by clicking here to start empowering yourself today.
